Eligibility for Retirement

Eligibility for Retirement

An employee's eligibility for retirement depends on age and total hours worked.

Given the modifications made to the plan in 2005 due to the deficit, the rules are different when:

  • The employee began to participate in the plan before 2005

OR

  • The employee began to participate in the plan after 2004

As of July 1, 2014, an employee who started contributing to the plan before 2005 may be entitled to take partial retirement. Under certain conditions, the employee may be able to receive an initial pension while continuing to contribute to the pension plan until full retirement.

Particular conditions, limitations, or exclusions other than those mentioned above may apply to the payment of certain benefits; only the Règlement sur les régimes complémentaires d'avantages sociaux dans l'industrie de la construction, published by the Éditeur officiel du Québec, has official and legal force.Nevertheless, the provisions that apply to a specific event are those in force at the time of this event.

Membership prior to 2005

At what age may an employee retire?

As of age 65, an employee is eligible for a normal retirement, with no other conditions.

If the required conditions are met, an employee may be eligible, depending on the case:

No pension is payable before the age of 50 years.

Note: Early retirement is when the employee retires before his or her normal retirement date. The employee’s pension is reduced when the pension starts earlier than the normal retirement date.

Since July 1, 2014, some employees may qualify for partial retirement.

Payment of the pension is not automatic. Employees must contact the CCQ to obtain their Application for Retirement.

As of the end of the year during which the employee turns 71 years of age, retirement is mandatory. If the employee has not yet applied for retirement, the CCQ will send a letter to the employee's last known valid address requesting that he or she contacts it.

Particular conditions, limitations, or exclusions other than those mentioned above may apply to the payment of certain benefits; only the Règlement sur les régimes complémentaires d'avantages sociaux dans l'industrie de la construction, published by the Éditeur officiel du Québec, has official and legal force. Nevertheless, the provisions that apply to a specific event are those in force at the time of this event.

  • Normal Retirement
  • Early Retirement with an Unreduced Pension
  • Early Retirement with a Reduced Pension
  • Early Retirement with Reduction for Disability

Starting at age 65

The normal retirement date is the first day of the month following an employee’s 65th birthday. An employees who is 65 may apply for retirement no matter how many hours worked are recorded in the employee's file. The employee is then eligible for a normal pension.

Employees who retire after age 65 have the right to a postponed pension – that is, the pension is increased to reflect the fact that the employee has passed the normal retirement age. The exact amount of the increase is shown on the Application for Pension Benefit form.

Payment of the postponed pension must start no later than December 1 of the year in which the employee turns 71 years of age. If the employee has not yet applied for retirement, the CCQ will send a letter to the employee's last known valid address requesting that he or she contacts it.

Employees who continue to work in the construction industry after age 65 no longer accumulate pension amounts in the pension plan.

Starting at age 60 – early retirement with an unreduced pension

Employees are eligible for early retirement with an unreduced pension starting at age 60 if:

  • Their age + (hours worked divided by 1,400) = 70 or more (Rule of 70)

The table below illustrates this condition for different ages.

Employee aged Minimum hours
worked required		 Calculation (hours worked ÷ 1,400) + age
60 years 14,000 14,000 ÷ 1,400 = 10 → 10 + 60 years = 70
61 years 12,600 12,600 ÷ 1,400 = 9 → 9 + 61 years = 70
62 years 11,200 11,200 ÷ 1,400 = 8 → 8 + 62 years = 70
63 years 9,800 9,800 ÷ 1,400 = 7 → 7 + 63 years = 70
64 years 8,400 8,400 ÷ 1,400 = 6 → 6 + 64 years = 70
Note: the age is calculated in days; thus, an employee whose age is 60 years and 100 days may apply and be eligible for retirement without a reduction in pension if he or she has 13,650 hours worked (because 13,650 ÷ 1,400 = 9.75 and 60.27 years + 9.75 = 70.02).

An employee who does not have enough hours worked to satisfy the rule of 70 (for example, the employee is 60 and is credited with 10,000 hours worked) may be eligible for early retirement with a reduced pension.

 

Starting at age 55 – early retirement with anunreduced pension 

Employees are eligible for early retirement with an unreduced pension starting at age 55 if the following two conditions are met:

  • Age + (hours worked divided by 1,400) = 80 or more (Rule of 80 for hours)

AND

  • Age + years of membership = 80 or more (Rule of 80 for membership)

The table below illustrates these conditions for different ages.

Age Minimum
hours
worked
required		 Minimum
years of
membership		 Hours calculation
(hours worked ÷ 1,400) + age		 Membership calculation
55 35,000 25 35,000 ÷ 1,400 = 25 →
55 + 25 = 80		 55 + 25 = 80
56 33,600 24 33,600 ÷ 1,400 = 24 →
56 + 24 = 80		 56 + 24 = 80
 
57 32,200 23 32,200 ÷ 1,400 = 23 →
57 + 23 = 80		 57 + 23 = 80
58 30,800
 
 22 30,800 ÷ 1,400 = 22 →
58 + 22 = 80		 58 + 22 = 80
59 29,400
 
 21 29,400 ÷ 1,400 = 21 →
59 + 21 = 80		 59 + 21 = 80
Note: the age is calculated in days. The employee must have contributed to the pension plan during a year in order for that year to count as a year of membership.

Employees who wish to apply for retirement must contact the CCQ's Customer Services to obtain the Application for Pension Benefit form.

Employees who do not have enough hours in their file to satisfy the rule of 80 (for example, an employee who is 55 years old and has 10,000 hours worked in his file), or have the minimum number of hours worked but not the minimum years of participation (for example, an employee is 55 years old and has 35,000 hours worked but only 21 years of membership), may be eligible for early retirement with a reduced pension.

Employees who are not eligible for early retirement with an unreduced pension may be eligible for early retirement with a reduced pension. The reduction is applied on the pension from the General Account. The pension from the Complementary Account is always calculated based on the employee’s age and the value of the account at the time of application for retirement.

Starting at age 55 or 60 – early retirement with a reduced pension

Two situations are possible.

Situation 1 
Employees age 55 or more, who are not eligible for early retirement with an unreduced pension because they do not satisfy the rule of 80 for the number of hours worked, or employees aged 60 years or more, who are not eligible for early retirement with an unreduced pension because they do not satisfy the rule of 70, are eligible for a reduced pension no matter how many hours worked are credited to their file.

The reduction takes into account the period between the first day of the month following the month in which the pension application was submitted and the date at which the employee would have been eligible for an unreduced pension. The longer the period, the greater the reduction. The reduction is approximately 7% for each year before the normal retirement date. It is calculated more precisely using an actuarial factor. This reduction is permanent: it applies as long as the pension is payable by the plan.

Example 1:
Employee age 55 with 30,800 hours worked and 25 years of membership in his retirement file
  • An unreduced pension would be payable at age 58 because (30,800 ÷ 1,400) + 58 = 80.
  • The pension would be permanently reduced by 21 % (that is, 58 years – 55 years = 3 years and 3 years x 7% = 21%).
Example 2:
Employee age 61 years with 11,200 hours worked in his retirement file
  • An unreduced pension would be payable at age 62 because (11,200 ÷ 1,400 = 70).
  • The pension would be permanently reduced by 7% (that is, 62 years - 61 years =
    1 year and 1 year x 7% = 7%).

Situation 2 
Employees age 55 or more, who are not eligible for early retirement with an unreduced pension because they do not satisfy the rule of 80 for the number of years of participation, are eligible for early retirement with a reduced pension. In this situation, the reduction is by 3% for each year before the normal retirement date, calculated on the employee’s pension accumulated from January 1992. This reduction is permanent: it applies as long as the pension is payable by the plan.

Starting at age 50 – early retirement with a reduced pension 

Employees age 50 years or more are eligible for retirement with a reduced pension if:

  • Age + (hours worked divided by 1,400) = 60 or more (Rule of 60)

The following table illustrates this condition for different ages.
 

Employee age Minimum hours required Calculation
50 14,000 14,000 ÷ 1,400 = 10 → 10 + 50 = 60
51 12,600 12,600 ÷ 1,400 = 9 → 9 + 51 = 60
52 11,200 11,200 ÷ 1,400 = 8 → 8 + 52 = 60
53 9,800 9,800 ÷ 1,400 = 7 → 7 + 53 = 60
54 8,400 8,400 ÷ 1,400 = 6 → 6 + 54 = 60

 

The reduction is approximately by 7% for each year before the normal retirement date. It is calculated more precisely using an actuarial factor. This reduction is permanent: it applies as long as a pension is payable by the plan.

 

Employees who wish to apply for retirement must contact the CCQ’s Customer Services to obtain the Application for Pension Benefitform. The percentage and exact amount of any reduction are shown on the the form.

 

To be eligible for retirement with a reduced pension for disability, employees must meet the following conditions:

  • Be at least 50 years old
  • Have 21,000 hours worked or more in their retirement file
  • Be recognized as totally disabled as defined in the Règlement sur les régimes complémentaires d’avantages sociaux dans l’industrie de la construction.
    • For the purposes of the pension plan, “total disability” is defined as a state of incapacity resulting from an illness or accident and necessitating medical care, where such illness or accident entirely prevents the person affected from performing the usual tasks of his or her job.

Employees must contact the CCQ’s Customer Services to apply for retirement.

The reduction takes into account the period between the first day of the month following the month in which the retirement application was submitted and the date at which the employee would be eligible for a retirement with an unreduced pension. The pension from the General Account is reduced by 3% per for each year before the normal retirement date. The exact amount of the reduction is given on the Application for Pension Benefit form. This reduction is permanent: it applies as long as the pension is payable by the plan.

 

Example:

An employee, recognized as totally disabled, is eligible for an unreduced pension at age 60. He applies for disability retirement at age 54: he is 6 years before the normal retirement date (60 – 54). His pension from the General Account is therefore permanently reduced by 18% (6 years x 3%).

 

The pension from the Complementary Account is calculated based on the employee’s age and the value of his or her Complementary Account at the time of application for retirement.

 

Start of the pension

Employees are not eligible for retirement with a reduced pension for disability before the 53rd week following the beginning of their disability unless their life expectancy is reduced to less than two years.

Reduced life expectancy

Employees eligible for a pension and whose life expectancy is less than two years may, when their disability is reported, ask to 

  • Receive their disability pension OR
  • Receive a lump-sum equal to 100% of the value of their pension

An employee who does not meet on of the eligibility conditions for disability pension may be eligible for a benefit upon termination of plan membership. 

To find out more

Read our brochure Summary of the construction industry pension plan (start before 2005).

Membership starting after 2004

 

At what age may an employee retire?

  • Starting at age 55

    Employees are eligible for retirement starting at age 55, no matter the number of hours worked.

  • Starting at age 50

Employees are eligible for retirement starting at age 50 if:

 

age + (hours worked divided by 1,400) = 60 or more

 

The table below illustrates this condition for different ages.

Employee age

Minimum hoursrequired

Calculation

50

14,000

14,000 ÷ 1,400 = 10 → 10 + 50 = 60

51

12,600

12,600 ÷ 1,400 = 9 → 9 + 51 = 60

52

11,200

11,200 ÷ 1,400 = 8 → 8 + 52 = 60

53

9,800

9,800 ÷ 1,400 = 7 → 7 + 53 = 60

54

8,400

8,400 ÷ 1,400 = 6 → 6 + 54 = 60

No pension is payable below 50 years of age.

The pension from the Complementary Account is calculated based on the employee’s age and the value of his or her Complementary Account on the first day of the month following the date of application for retirement.

Payment of the pension is not automatic. Employees must contact the CCQ to apply for Retirement.

Payment of the pension must start no later than December 1 of the year in which the employee turns 71. If the employee has not yet applied for retirement, the CCQ will send the Application for Pension Benefit form to the employee's last known address.

Particular conditions, limitations, or exclusions other than those mentioned above may apply to the payment of certain benefits; only the Règlement sur les régimes complémentaires d'avantages sociaux dans l'industrie de la construction, published by the Éditeur officiel du Québec, has official and legal force.Nevertheless, the provisions that apply to a specific event are those in force at the time of this event. 

To find out more

Read our brochure Summary of the construction industry pension plan (start after 2004).